Do you lack enthusiasm for your life? If so, there are several reasons why. You see, enthusiasm and motivation are connected to your role in life.
People are most enthusiastic about life when they’re doing things that are fulfilling. These are things that include a bit of challenge, enjoyment, and energy. You see, certain things in life just make us super happy, and this is a happiness that’s not necessarily connected to the approval of others.
When we lose enthusiasm, life looks different all around. It’s not as bright, crisp, or exciting as it was before. So, what are these underlying reasons for the loss of enthusiasm?
Why did I lose my enthusiasm for life?
Are you asking yourself this question? I know I do sometimes. There are many moments in my life when I step back and notice that everything has lost its edge, its glimmer – life just seems like a dull knife.
I might think about painting, but then almost immediately, I feel uninspired. I might ruminate about redecorating, and instead, watch videos all day. When this happens, I recognize that my enthusiasm is not what it once was. So, why?
Here are a few reasons why you lack enthusiasm for life. They just make sense.
1. Taking on too much
This might sound backward, but it contributes more than you know to your lack of enthusiasm. If you start overloading yourself with work, you may feel energized and ready at first, but something happens.
After you’ve done some of the work, you suddenly realize it’s too much. When this happens, you may become depressed and have a hard time finishing everything. Your motivation depletes and even if you manage to get it all done, you feel less enthusiastic about the next thing you want to do.
2. Along comes change
I don’t care for change. And if you’re someone who struggles with the changes in life, then you might also struggle with being enthusiastic about things that used to excite you. Change has this strange way of instilling fear and uncertainty into the best of us.
You don’t have to be insecure to dislike change. It’s just that some humans, like myself, get into a pattern that we absolutely love, and we are so motivated to do the things we enjoy. However, when that pattern is altered even the slightest bit, our enthusiasm can take a hit.
3. The ‘why’ is unclear
We do things every day, whether it’s our jobs, errands, chores, or hobbies. But why are we doing these things? Well, most people work to make money and because they have a passion for their career.
We run errands to pay bills and do chores to keep our homes in order. But why we do have certain hobbies? Why do we paint, write poems, and make videos?
Again, it could be for money, but usually, there’s passion in our hobbies as well.
Here’s the unfortunate part: if we don’t have a clear reason for the things we do, eventually we will lose the motivation to do these things, even the fun things. So, another reason we may not have enthusiasm for life – we may not know the ‘whys’ of this life.
4. You are afraid of your goal
So, you’ve decided what you want out of life, but then suddenly one day you realize that your dreams and goals are huge. They are so involved, complicated, and just big that you become overwhelmed. And if you stay overwhelmed and afraid, you lose your enthusiasm for the things you want to do.
Let’s say you want to buy a car, and you’ve been enthusiastic about this. But when you find out how much money you need to put on a down payment, it’s more than you bargained for. It’s easy in these circumstances to lose your motivation.
5. There is no support
It’s difficult to be enthusiastic when no one supports you. What I mean by this is that if you’re surrounded by negative people who always put you down, that negativity can seep inside you. It can literally be infectious.
Your environment plays a large role in your enthusiasm. This is why you must always strive to create an environment of peace, love, and tolerance in order to stay motivated about life.
If no one supports you, then find people who will, or learn to be happy running the race alone until you bump into your people. And you will know your people.
6. An unhealthy lifestyle
If you aren’t being active or eating nutritional foods, then you might be less than enthusiastic. This is especially true if you’re always eating junk food and drinking too much alcohol. An unhealthy lifestyle makes you feel tired all the time and keeps you parked in front of the television, on your smartphone, or sitting around with friends.
While it is good to socialize, spending time with your friends and family doing activities is much better. Because if you’re always living an unhealthy lifestyle, you won’t be enthused about life. You can even fall into depression.
7. Afraid to ask for help
Sometimes completing tasks takes more than your own willpower and strength. When you come across something you want to achieve, but it will require help, sometimes you just back down and decide to forget it. You lose your enthusiasm for this project or task simply because you are afraid no one will want to help you.
I’ve been through this myself. There are many things I haven’t done because I’ve been afraid to ask for help. Over time, I did lose interest in doing them.
8. Feeling you don’t deserve something
Many times, we lose enthusiasm for something because we’ve started to feel like we don’t deserve the rewards from the task. Whether we’ve made a mistake that hurt someone, or we’ve just struggled for years with our self-esteem.
Motivation is hard to find if we feel less than worthy. If you’re feeling like you don’t deserve something, this might be the reason why you can’t get anything done. It’s time to work on that self-esteem or forgive yourself.
How can we improve in this area?
You didn’t think I would give you underlying reasons and not help you get better, did you? Well, nope. I can give a little advice about how to become more enthusiastic, even though I should take my own advice.
I tell you about my issues in hopes that even this will help you – just knowing you’re not alone can give you hope for the future. So, let’s look at this reason by reason and break it down.
- If you’re taking on too much work or responsibilities, sit down and write out everything you need to do for the day, start from now. Analyze your list and be honest with yourself. Is it possible to get these things done without putting too much stress on yourself? If not, then start scaling back a little at a time until you feel comfortable.
- Change can be difficult, granted, but it happens and sometimes there’s nothing you can do about it. So, knowing this, try your hardest to find any positive aspects of this change. Then practice using this mindset in preparation for future changes. It’s about seeing the silver lining.
- If you don’t know why you’re trying to do something, it’s time you take inventory of your ‘whys’ and be honest with yourself. Find the reason for the goal and it will push you forward.
- If you feel like your goal is too large, break it into chunks and try to finish a little at a time. This will make reaching your goal much easier.
- Are you not getting support at home? Well, there are people who would be invested in you if you found the right crowd. But you must be invested in yourself first by accepting that not everyone in your life will be interested in the same things that you are.
- If you’re living an unhealthy lifestyle, then you know what must be done. Little by little, it’s time to change the food you eat, your activity level and get away from the screen a bit. Yes! It’s hard, especially if you work online. But when you don’t work online, do something that doesn’t require a screen. Oh, and start throwing out some of that junk food. It’s full of toxins.
- Never be afraid to ask for help. No one on this planet has gone through a full life without needing help at some point. You are no exception. So, the key? You must push back that pride and be humble.
- And finally, you deserve happiness. No matter what you’ve done or how you think you look, feel, or sound like, you are supposed to have the best in life. Each one of us deserves to reach our goals and be rewarded.
I hope this post helps you understand that we’re in this together, and I hope it motivates you to do those things you sit and dream about. Take care.
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